Judge to decide whether Ralph Menzies is competent enough to be executed

WEST JORDAN, Utah — A longtime death row inmate, Ralph Leroy Menzies, was present at a competency hearing Monday where a judge will decide whether he can be legally executed.

Menzies was found guilty of murdering a Utah woman and sentenced to die in 1988. Two years before, his victim, Maurine Hunsaker, was working at a gas station in Kearns. She disappeared, and her body was found in Big Cottonwood Canyon two days later.

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Throughout the morning, prosecutors and Menzies’ defense attorneys presented arguments about Menzies’ competency. Each gave their case as to why Menzies should or shouldn’t be considered competent enough to be legally executed in Utah.

Both sides were previously ordered by a judge to perform an evaluation on Menzies’ mental state. Utah law says a person cannot be executed if they are incompetent enough to not understand what is happening to them or going on around them.

Related: Attorneys for Ralph Menzies file opposition of execution

“This is unusual,” said Greg Skordas, Attorney and KSL Legal Analyst. “But because (this is) a case that takes so long in Utah and other states, a lot can happen to a defendant while incarcerated. They can suffer from mental health issues, lack of competency, things like that.”

In Monday’s hearing, one of the arguments came from a criminal psychologist. They showed the court scans of Menzies’ brain and its deterioration over time.

Please read the entire story at KSLTV.com.